Dangerous dog

RuthieRose

Hi folks. Long story short. Our neighbours dog a doberman bitch attacked and killed our beloved Jack Russell last week. The vet described it as the worst dog on dog attack she had ever seen.
The Doberman has one of those electric collars on but it jumped through it and went for our dog. Now our dog would bark at it as it passed the garden in the past but we thought it would never come out to get it.
It has gone crazy at several members of our family and our other neighbour is afraid to walk down the lane past it.
The warden said it was a nice dog two days before the attack took place!!
The bottom line is that we are afraid this dog will break free again and attack us our our children. We want it gone. Our neighbours want to keep it!! They have small children themselves! Have we any options or rights to prevent something like this or worse from happening again??? I don't want suggestions of poisoning it. Is there anything else we can do?

DBB

Bloody hell op, that is nothing short of horrific. You have my every sympathy.
It's one of the many problems with these radio fences: they won't hold a determined dog in, and play a significant role in building frustration in the dog, who not only has to watch "intruders" pass near or through their territory, but have to endure a zap in the process if they approach the boundary to do what comes naturally. The zap they often "blame" on the passing dog/person/car etc.
You can potentially go down the legal route, via Section 22 of the Control of Dogs Act 1986:
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1986/en/act/pub/0032/sec0022.html#sec22

I would start out by calling the local warden to tell him what has happened. They just may take this case on your behalf, or at worst, advise on how to proceed from here.

Again, I'm so sorry to hear about what happened to your poor dog, it's a hard thing to cope with I'd imagine.

RuthieRose

Thanks so much for your reply. We are completely devastated. I just hope this dog doesn't do it again. In this weather and petrified to let our children outside to play.

Cork24

Snip.

fatmammycat

Deepest sympathies on your loss, that's horrific. I think it should be fairly obvious to your neighbours that the E-Fence is quite useless to withhold a determined dog and they need to build proper fencing to withhold this animal. Of course this won't bring your poor JR back, but ii might give you some peace of mind. Is this dog always outdoors? Are these people approachable at all?

borderlinemeath

Jeepers OP that is horrific. As others have posted those stupid electric fences are shown up once again to be unreliable and probably partly to blame for the incident itself. Dobermans are great dogs, but there are a lot of them now that have been badly bred and have become jumpy, nervous and twitchy. Throw an electric shock into the mix and the natural guarding that a doberman has and it's a recipe for disaster. A nervous dog, gets a shock, associates it with the nearest dog he can sense and it's your poor jack russell that pays the price.

I would be right to be worried about who may become it's next victim because the poor doberman has hit a learning curve with this fence, Shock, find problem and eliminate. If it's owners, who are entirely to blame for the probable lack of training and inadequate secure containment don't secure the dog with a proper boundary fence then the warden needs to be called.

RuthieRose

Thanks to everyone for their sympathy. It is obvious from your replys that we are not over-reacting. They have tied up the Doberman which I feel will only make her more angry and frustrated as she more or less roamed about their garden before. We have tried to approach them but have been stone walled. They have even blamed our jack Russel saying he trespassed!!!!
I am going to call the warden tomorrow. He has passed this dog as harmless! He needs to know the developments and if anything happens in the future I will be knocking on his door too.
We should not be afraid to be in our garden and to walk down our lane.
Thanks for all your help folks.

Brown eyed girl 4

That is so sad. Sorry for your loss.
I do believe these breeds have to be completely enclosed. Radio fence is not enclosed. I would blame the owner more than the dog, no one should have one of these breeds unless they have an enclosed area.

DBB

Brown eyed girl 4 wrote: »

I do believe these breeds have to be completely enclosed.

I think, for clarity's sake, it needs to be noted that ALL breeds, makes and shapes of dog must be properly contained on the owner's premises. The law in this regard does not just apply to certain breeds.

Papillon!

Don't know what to say in regards to advice really. Do the family not have any other way to contain the dog like a large run and excercise it and play with the dog regularly?

Sounds like the dog wasn't brought up too well to me. Classic bad parenting (lol) blaming your dog to be tresspassing....!:rolleyes:

I'm so so sorry about your little JR. I can't imagine how it must feel :(x

BeerWolf

Got a similar situation here. My neighbour had a small dog which was attacked by two really big Labradors, owned by someone down the road who's... lets just say pretty rich.

The dog survived, but for some reason she never filed a complaint or requested for compensation for the dog's treatment. And if that wasn't bad enough, the poor dog was attacked AGAIN a few months later and was killed this time.

AGAIN she didn't do anything about it...

And these fecking aggressive dogs are still around, capable of running out through open gates [they're NEVER closed]. Everytime I walk past it while walking my dogs... I have to pick up my fox terrier and hold her, while holding onto my Staffy's leash with my other hand...

They're not always there, but when they are... they're real panic moments, especially with my Staffy being protective when they come charging down the gateway.

andreac

BeerWolf wrote: »

Got a similar situation here. My neighbour had a small dog which was attacked by two really big Labradors, owned by someone down the road who's... lets just say pretty rich.

The dog survived, but for some reason she never filed a complaint or requested for compensation for the dog's treatment. And if that wasn't bad enough, the poor dog was attacked AGAIN a few months later and was killed this time.

AGAIN she didn't do anything about it...

And these fecking aggressive dogs are still around, capable of running out through open gates [they're NEVER closed]. Everytime I walk past it while walking my dogs... I have to pick up my fox terrier and hold her, while holding onto my Staffy's leash with my other hand...

They're not always there, but when they are... they're real panic moments, especially with my Staffy being protective when they come charging down the gateway.

Have you reported this to the dog warden?

RuthieRose

Thanks again folks. You messages of sympathy are a real comfort especially to my Dad who is completely gutted about the whole thing. We have been neighbours for about 30 odd years with these people and it will put a strain on the relationship but I feel they are bring unreasonable.
Putting up an electric fence will not stop this dog. That is evident. There are alot of small childern between the 4 other houses on the lane and my worse fear is that this dog will get free and think one of the kids is tresspassing.
The few times we have seen them walking the dog it's more like she takes the owner for the walk as she is so strong. I feel so sorry for it now as it is chained up and barking every time we go outside the house. The dog needs a run and a good long daily walk.
My dad is going to try and speak to them again and if that fails call the warden. He has said a week before that he deemed the dog to be a lovely animal. I wonder what he will think of this new information.

Papillon!

You neighbours poor dog sounds neglected. Doesn't matter if it has food and water...Lack of training and socialization is neglect, especially for a big dog like that.

No wonder the dog acted out when its never been taught that your dog wasn't a threat.

People who don't put the time in just shouldn't have them at all..:(

kristian12

So sorry for your loss it must be heartbreaking.

I have to ask though why was the dog warden involved in the first place? Had the dog shown signs of aggression, neglect or wandering? When you say crazy do you mean barking or actually trying to bite someone? Not that any of this information will help bring back your beloved dog but it might help people make informed judgements rather than sentimental ones.

Tranceypoo

BeerWolf wrote: »

Got a similar situation here. My neighbour had a small dog which was attacked by two really big Labradors, owned by someone down the road who's... lets just say pretty rich.

The dog survived, but for some reason she never filed a complaint or requested for compensation for the dog's treatment. And if that wasn't bad enough, the poor dog was attacked AGAIN a few months later and was killed this time.

AGAIN she didn't do anything about it...

And these fecking aggressive dogs are still around, capable of running out through open gates [they're NEVER closed]. Everytime I walk past it while walking my dogs... I have to pick up my fox terrier and hold her, while holding onto my Staffy's leash with my other hand...

They're not always there, but when they are... they're real panic moments, especially with my Staffy being protective when they come charging down the gateway.

That's terrible, really terrible, I can't believe that woman did nothing about it. I really think you should report to the dog warden, also if I were you I just wouldn't walk past there if at all possible, there's a couple of houses I avoid on walks now because a dog has run at me and my dog (who is a work in progress with other dogs anyways), one of them a lab funnily enough and the other a smaller dog not sure what breed. Luckily I have a choice of a few routes maybe you don't have that option but if possible I would avoid I would be too scared of my dogs being attacked.

Really sorry to the OP for your loss I cannot imagine how you must feel.

EireIceMan

Report it if she won't do anything about it.
If the staff does go to protect you's, he'll be in the wrong:rolleyes: Viscious RB and all that sh1te:rolleyes:

RuthieRose

kristian12 wrote: »

So sorry for your loss it must be heartbreaking.

I have to ask though why was the dog warden involved in the first place? Had the dog shown signs of aggression, neglect or wandering? When you say crazy do you mean barking or actually trying to bite someone? Not that any of this information will help bring back your beloved dog but it might help people make informed judgements rather than sentimental ones.

Yes Kristisn. The dog warden was out shortly before as the dog charged at our neighbour walking down the lane past their wall which sets their garden at elbow to shoulder height as you walk past. It cleared the wall. The poor woman who has her own dogs but never with her will with such nightmares she vomited. Her sons approached the neighbours and got no help so called the warden who found the dog to be a nice dog. Shortly after and I am talking days our dog was killed.

kristian12

RuthieRose wrote: »

Yes Kristisn. The dog warden was out shortly before as the dog charged at our neighbour walking down the lane past their wall which sets their garden at elbow to shoulder height as you walk past. It cleared the wall. The poor woman who has her own dogs but never with her will with such nightmares she vomited. Her sons approached the neighbours and got no help so called the warden who found the dog to be a nice dog. Shortly after and I am talking days our dog was killed.

Thank you for answering. Poor woman i'm not surprised she was terrified. I hope your dad has gone back to the dog warden now as it really does sound like this dog is a timebomb and won't be long before someone or somebody elses dog get attacked.

DBB

It seems odd to me that the warden seems to have discounted some vital evidence: the dog might be a honey within its own home, but the fact remains that it escaped from its garden and caused a law-abiding lady to suffer the consequences.
Do you know did the dog warden advise them re the security of their boundary? And who told you that the warden said the dog was fine? The owners? I just wonder has the warden a different take on it to what you heard? Or is it that he dismissed your poor neighbour's fright and told her the dog was fine? In which case, I wonder what qualifications he has in dog behaviour to be able to make such an assessment! The fact that he "certified" the dog as fine, and days later the same dog has escaped again and this time killed a dog, puts the warden in a bit of an awkward position. I'd be milking that, were I in your shoes!
Around here, the wardens are prepared to give dogs another chance where they haven't caused any huge harm, but they do attach terms and conditions, in my experience anyway.

RuthieRose

DBB wrote: »

It seems odd to me that the warden seems to have discounted some vital evidence: the dog might be a honey within its own home, but the fact remains that it escaped from its garden and caused a law-abiding lady to suffer the consequences.
Do you know did the dog warden advise them re the security of their boundary? And who told you that the warden said the dog was fine? The owners? I just wonder has the warden a different take on it to what you heard? Or is it that he dismissed your poor neighbour's fright and told her the dog was fine? In which case, I wonder what qualifications he has in dog behaviour to be able to make such an assessment! The fact that he "certified" the dog as fine, and days later the same dog has escaped again and this time killed a dog, puts the warden in a bit of an awkward position. I'd be milking that, were I in your shoes!
Around here, the wardens are prepared to give dogs another chance where they haven't caused any huge harm, but they do attach terms and conditions, in my experience anyway.

DBB that's very interesting. We were told by the neighbours that made the complaint that the dog was fine. I'll discuss this with the family and word our conversation before we call on Wednesday. Thanks for that. I will keep you all posted.

FoxyVixen

Are you even sure the dog warden called round? It sounds like alot of chinese whispers to me?

I only ask because like DBB, I'm surprised the warden didn't sanction the owners for having inadequate control over their dog (allowing it access to roam), but as a RB it should have been muzzled in a public place. Thereby on leaving its front gate, the dog should have been muzzled? To me that's two counts of which they should have been vilified for.

Sorry for the position you've found yourself in OP, it's a terrible situation and a very frightening experience.